MEXICO. 89 and been otherwise damaged by a storm, to put into the harbour for a few days to refit. The Viceroy expresses, in very strong terms, his displea- sure at the negligence of the Governor, in allowing the vessel to leave the Island, " without having even attempted to seize her ; and his surprise at the governor of any of the Kings Islands being so ignorant, as not to know, that any foreign vessel sailing in the South Sea, without a Spanish license, was to be treated as an enemy's vessel, although the country, to which she belonged, might be at peace and amity with Spain." This doctrine met with the entire approbation of the Audiencia of Peru ; and a circular was immediately address- ed to all governors of islands, and the commandants of forts, or towns, situated upon the coast of the Pacific, in- structing them, " in the event of any foreign vessel entering their harbours, to endeavour, to the best of their abilities,* to detain her, until a favourable opportunity should present itself for seizing her, with her crew, and to transmit to the capital the earliest possible intelligence of the result." This correspondence was found in the archives of the Vice- royalty at Lima, and published by the Independent party, when it obtained possession of the capital, together with the decree respecting the college for noble Indians, which I have already quoted. Like the letter of the Viceroy Calleja, and the representa- tion of the Mexican Audiencia to the Cortes, to which I shall have occasion to allude in the next book, I see no reason to question their authenticity ; and where this is the case, no- thing tends to throw so strong a light upon the causes of a revolution, as such documents. They are better than a thou- sand theories, the result merely of private opinions more or less warmly expressed ; for, without pretending to establish
- Literally, " with suitable discrimination, art, and prudence— con la
sagacidad, arte, y prudencia, convenientes."
